What is an Occupational Therapist?
Occupational Therapists work with children, young people and their families to help them engage in everyday activities. For children and young people these activities could include feeding, self care skills, school activities and leisure activities.
When it comes to feeding, Occupational Therapists look at why a child maybe having difficulty with partaking in mealtimes. Our Occupational Therapists will explore if a child has difficulty feeding because of challenges with:
The underlying postural skills to maintain an upright seated position for eating and drinking.
The fine motor and visual perceptual skills to self-feed.
The motor skills needed for coordinating body movements and muscle strength when eating.
Postural fatigue.
Learning and cognition which impacts upon a child’s behaviour or concentration at mealtimes.
Underlying sensory processing skills or processing sensory information from the eating environment.
Children and young people who have difficulty processing sensory information may present with a variety of behaviours around food. Sensory integration is the body’s ability to take in information from the world around us. When eating and drinking, we use all of our senses and for some children eating can be an overwhelming sensory experience. The different sights, sounds, smells and tastes of food can be too much for some children and they can become distressed and upset.
The Feeding Trust’s Occupational Therapists
Lucy Bates
Lucy is our Clinical Director and our Lead Feeding Therapist.
She qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2005 with a BSC Honours degree.
Lucy has over 15 years of experience specialising in Paediatrics and Neurology and has worked across NHS and independent settings including Birmingham Children’s Hospital, mainstream and specialist schools, community clinics and client’s homes.
Lucy has a wealth of experience working with children and young people with a wide range of needs including physical challenges, such as brain injury, muscular conditions and medical difficulties, as well as children with neurodiverse conditions including autism, ADHD and Developmental Co-ordination Disorder/Dyspraxia. Alongside her work at The Feeding Trust, Lucy runs her own independent Occupational Therapy practice working within a range of settings.
Lucy has worked at The Feeding Trust since its conception and has loved being part of the interdisciplinary feeding team and watching the Feeding Trust grow from strength to strength. Lucy has a passion for working with children and young people with feeding difficulties and has completed the foundation SOS training as well as advanced modules in a variety of topic areas.
Lucy has also completed post graduate training in Sensory Integration and has significant clinical experience in working with children and young people with sensory processing difficulties and the impact this can have on day to day activities including feeding.
When Lucy is not being an Occupational Therapist, she is a Mom to two, young, busy children and enjoys participating in cycling events.
Andrea Matthews
Andrea has a BSc Honours in Psychology and an MSc in Occupational Therapy. She qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2011.
Andrea has worked in the field of healthcare since 2000 in various roles, including as a Support Worker, Service Manager, Clinical Auditor, Assistant Psychologist and Occupational Therapist.
Andrea has experience of working with children with a wide range of needs, including acquired and congenital brain injuries, and neurodevelopmental diagnoses such as Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Dyspraxia. Andrea is skilled in working with children with anxiety and those who can find it difficult to engage. She has worked in schools, nurseries, clinics and with families in their own homes.
Andrea has completed training in assessment and treatment using the SOS Approach to Feeding. Additionally, Andrea has completed post graduate training in sensory integration and is an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner. She has significant experience in assessing and treating sensory processing differences, including those that impact feeding.
In her spare time Andrea enjoys going to the cinema and walking her dog, Daniel the Spaniel.
The Feeding Trust’s specialties
Click on the circles opposite to find out more about our other specialities…
